It is a foundational tenet of the American system of government that a sitting legislature cannot bind a future legislature. This concept forms the very basis of our democratic system. Elections would have little meaning if one legislature could tie the hands of those that will occupy the same seats in the future.

By putting forward House Bill 5593, the so-called “perpetual contracts” legislation to favor government unions, the Rhode Island General Assembly is attempting to undermine that basic legal tenet, and that cannot stand.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court articulated this common law principle in Rhode Island Student Loan Authority v. Nels Inc., holding that “any contract made by a governmental authority involving the performance of a governmental function that extends beyond the unexpired terms of the governmental officials executing the contract is void because such an agreement improperly ties the hands of subsequent officials.”

The court later reaffirmed this principle, ruling, for example, in Charkuroff v. Boyle that “the operation and the maintenance of a public school is a governmental function and not a proprietary one.”

House Bill 5593 flies in the face of these rulings.

In recognition of this settled tenet of law, the legislature previously limited teacher contracts to three years. Even that is subject to challenge where school committees have two-year terms or where a new contract is agreed to immediately prior to an election, but no one has made the effort up to this point to challenge that system in the Rhode Island courts. My sense is that this statutory system has hewed close enough to the constitutional rule to avoid a legal challenge so far.

A perpetual union contract mandate would (and is, in fact, intended to) tie the hands of local legislatures — your city or town council. It removes all incentive for public employee unions to negotiate in good faith when times are tough and revenues are tight, and leaves them free to come to the table only when times are flush and they can expect to make gains at taxpayers’ expense.

What the legislature has proposed this year goes beyond the pale. Making public contracts perpetual is a multimillion-dollar handout of taxpayer money to public employee unions. The governor is now faced with a bill on the way to her desk that she must either sign or veto.

The cities and towns are the laboratories of democracy in Rhode Island. Their budgets represent the vast majority of education and public safety spending, and union salaries consume the lion’s share of those budgets. Often, by mutual agreement, contracts made in previous election cycles have been continued during an impasse in negotiations with elected officials. But mandating this outcome is quite different, and forcing the hand of those tasked with crafting local budgets is simply a way to tip the playing field to further favor the unions.

Adopting a mandate for perpetual public union contracts, even if pressed in the name of smoothing labor disputes, is constitutionally prohibited. We feel strongly that Gov. Gina Raimondo — whatever her view of the merits and no matter how strong her desire to appease labor — is obliged to send House Bill 5593 back to the General Assembly with a veto.

Giovanni D. Cicione, a lawyer, is chairman of the Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights, a public interest litigation firm whose mission is to help citizens enforce their constitutional rights to free speech, property, and economic liberty.